Oxford Handbook of Human Resource Management

(Steven Felgate) #1

and discussed the strategic decision-making rationale underlyingWve salient inter-
related components of my framework depicted in Fig. 25. 1. In thisWnal section I
very brieXy recap our discussion of each component and suggest future directions
of enquiry under each.
TheWrst component of global HR strategic decision-making addressed earlier
was about the inXuence of diVerences in IR systems on FDI decisions. Surprisingly,
there has been almost no attention given to this kind of decision-making in the
global HR strategy literature. Yet, where MNCs make greenWeld investments,
acquire operations, and expand or contract their foreign subsidiaries invariably
inXuences MNCs’ global HR strategies; including decisions about the diVusion of
HR and technological capabilities abroad, about union representation, and about
CSR. Given the robustness of the evidence regarding the eVects of diVerences in IR
system factors on FDI patterns, it would be remiss of HR scholars and professionals
not to take into account more fully the critical role that diVerences in IR systems
play in overall global conWguration decisions and, in turn, in the formulation of
global HR strategies.
It is the decision-making regarding the diVusion of preferred HRM practices
abroad that was the second component of global HR strategies addressed herein.
On this issue weWnd a rich case study literature about the challenges MNCs face in
deciding on what HRM policies and practices should be diVused, if any, and how
these get implemented. A fundamental question that goes begging in this literature
is whether or not and under what conditions the diVusion of HR strategies (in
whole or in part) yields performance gains. Although we can cull from the
literature ( 1 ) a number of important factors that inXuence the prospects for success
and ( 2 ) various types of costs incurred in eVectively diVusing any preferred HR
strategies abroad, we have not yet assessed the relative importance of either. From a
strategic analysis perspective of evaluating alternative global HR strategies, this is
a critical assessment MNCs need to make (again, assuming MNCs seek to act
rationally).
The third component of global HR strategies addressed focused on the role of
union representation and collective bargaining on MNC decisions of where to
invest abroad, about union avoidance where they have invested, and on the
diVusion of preferred HRM policies and practices across foreign operations. One
future direction of enquiry raised in our discussion is the prospect that MNCs will
need to formulate transnational collective bargaining strategies given the possible
rise of cross-border inter-union alliances or partnerships formed for the purpose of
coordinating responses to, if not negotiating over, a MNC’s FDI and cross-border
movement-of-work decisions. Some HR scholars and professionals might under-
standably dismiss this kind of strategic assessment and preparation as unnecessary,
believing any such collective bargaining developments are too remote. However,
MNCs with organized locations serving as critical links in their global network of
operations risk incurring unwanted and unnecessary disruption to their global


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